Nadine and Melanie Sierra, sisters both born in Florida, have been hanging out mainly in Europe in recent months. Busy schedules, important tours, the singers catch up on the fly, between two planes, in Frankfurt or London. “It’s always stealthy and I admit I’ve been so busy recently that I haven’t been posting much to the family WhatsApp group,” the eldest apologizes in front of the younger one. This December morning, here they are together, gathered for seventy-two hours in Paris, this beloved capital of which they post magical photos on Instagram. Emily in Paris. Relaxed and installed in the Balanchine room, a vast rehearsal space on the floors of the Opéra Bastille, this is the first time that they have given a cross-interview.
Perhaps because, although they are both prominent singers, the Sierras operate in two environments that are as close as they are distant: opera and musical comedy. In the productions in which Nadine participates at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at La Scala in Milan or at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, many are unaware that she has a sister who trained on Broadway, and vice versa.
At the start of 2024, both are on display in France. When Melanie Sierra, 29, plays Maria in West Side Story, show which was a hit at the Théâtre du Châtelet in the fall, and leaves from February 9 on tour to Bordeaux, Lyon, Rouen and Nantes, Nadine Sierra, 35, promises to rock the Paris Opera. From January 21, she will take on the role of a very pop Violetta in La Traviata, transposed to the age of social networks by director Simon Stone.
From Michael Jackson to Fado
Born in Fort Lauderdale, to an American father of Italian and Puerto Rican descent and a Portuguese mother, the Sierras grew up in a postcard. “Typical Florida, they describe: a ranch house with a swimming pool, palm trees, pink flamingos at Christmas. » In the house where their eldest, Stephanie, who would become a model, also grew up, the family liked to watch MGM musicals and played the albums of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston or Amália Rodrigues, a fado star who reminded them of mother her native country. The idols of Nadine, who enrolled in music lessons at the age of 6, are called Mirella Freni or Luciano Pavarotti, high-level operatic standards.
“My parents imposed a discipline on me: I had to work on my music for at least an hour every day if I wanted to see my friends and go out,” says Nadine Sierra without complaint. When she was 10, her mother showed her a recording from 1982 on a video cassette: Bohemian, mounted by Franco Zeffirelli at the Metropolitan Opera. “I obviously didn’t understand Italian, but in the phrasing of the words, the accuracy of the voices, I could see exactly where the joy and the sorrow were. » Using the tape without ever returning it to the media library, she becomes certain: that of wanting to become an opera singer.
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